Happy (BELATED) Theatre Thursday!
I hope everyone had a wonderful and cozy Thanksgiving day surrounded by people you love. I am so thankful for getting to spend the holidays with my family especially after a crazy week of tech.
I am currently recovering from a cold (hence the very belated post), but I am on the up & up so hooray for feeling better!
Last year around this time I wrote a blog post (and at that point it was one of my most popular posts to date-now second to Top 10 Tips for Dating a Stage Manager) called 10 Perfect Gifts for your Theatre Lover. Click the photo below for last year’s list:
And now for the 10 Perfect Gifts List 2.0
1. Gmorning, Gnight! by Lin Manuel Miranda
Perfect for: All Theatre Humans
If you don't follow Lin Manuel Miranda on Twitter:
1. What are you doing with your life?
2. You may not be familiar with Lin's good morning/good night tweet series.
This tweet series starts with an encouraging tweet in the morning followed by a similar response tweet in the evening. The structure is as follows:
Apparently it was started as a way for him to motivate himself and to start & end the day with the things he personally needs to hear. And it has since taken the twitterverse by storm. And while even he has said, "why would people buy something I put on the internet for free?", some people (myself included) still love tangible things. Nothing beats putting down a screen and actually holding a book. This is perfect gift
for anyone who love LMM or who may need some extra inspiration in their life.
2. Black Clothing
Perfect for: Theatre Technicians
Who else might enjoy it: Any Actors who have to do run crew for a class assignment.
When anyone works backstage on a show they have to wear black clothing. We can never have enough of this, especially for technicians who are constantly working on run crew. Various layers is a good thing to consider because sometimes backstage is freezing and other times we can't stop sweating from pushing scenery around. Just make sure there aren't any logos on it and we'll be overjoyed to have more options/ to not have to do laundry quite as frequently.
3. Multitool or flashlight
Perfect for : Theatre Technicians
Working as a theatre technician means a lot of things, but most of the time means working fast and working in the dark. Picture this:
*The show is Ghost the Musical. The scenes are two pages long then there is a massive transition, and then another two page long scene.
But wait.
The platform isn't tracking downstage like it's suppose to and you have actors waiting on the escape platform to start the next scene on said platform.
Why isn't the platform tracking?
It's dark. Nobody can see with the blue light backstage (honestly can we ever?)....
BUT YOUR THEATRE TECHNICIAN HAS A FLASHLIGHT.
YOU FLASHLIGHT IT. SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND BOOM SHOW GOES ON. (Even if you had to move the actors downstairs for that scene & the platform didn't move until the next scene.)
Nobody is going to turn more lights on for us when something goes wrong and nobody has time to run to the shop to get a tool if something needs a quick fix. Your theatre technician will be so prepared with a multitool and flashlight for any backstage emergencies that may occur.
Bonus gift: Bite light for Dressers
(Also yes, true story friends.)
4. Steamer
Perfect for: Actors
I don't know much about steamers, but I know actors love and adore them. Especially those in musical theatre. So it made the list!
Any of my actor friends feel free to comment below with which steamers are worth a pretty penny!
5. Tea & Honey/Ricola/Emergen-C
Perfect for: Actors
Who else might enjoy: Any Theatre Human
Actors eat Ricola like it's candy.
We will appreciate this gift at any time of the year, but it is especially useful for tech week. This is one of the most important weeks in the process and we get very little sleep and work a lot of hours. Anything that can help prevent us from getting sick is always welcome and very much appreciated.
6. Good Sneakers/Steel toe boots
Perfect for: Theatre Technicians
Who else might enjoy: Actors who exercise
We aren't allowed to wear open toed shoes backstage because well scenery is big and heavy and imagine it rolling over your foot at a very quick speed. We also stand for hours on end so having a good supportive pair of sneakers is important (those black $20 sneakers from Target can only get you so far). Just be sure if they are for a theatre technician they are black. Steel toe boots are also a nice investment for technical director/carpentry type folks.
Also actors exercise so like I'm sure they'd appreciate a good pair of sneakers. And they can get fun colors too!
7. Gaff or spike tape
Perfect for: Stage Managers
Who else might enjoy: Electricians & Carpenters
Most theatres should have this in their stock, but it's always nice to have a little of your own as a backup in an emergency or if your theatre human is working at a smaller theatre with a smaller budget.
8. Happy Planner or Happy Notes
Perfect for: Stage Managers
Who else might enjoy: Any Theatre Human
I've been trying to slowly convert every theatre person I know into a Happy Planner person (so far I'm at like 6-7 people). I absolutely love them because I'm a nerd and it's like scrapbooking and organizing all in one. They come in many different sizes and many different layouts and you can have stickers for literal days! They also have happy notes now which is basically a more fun version of a notebook! I have a happy notebook for my blog, a classic happy planner for regular schedule stuff, and then a larger happy planner for memory planning (aka scrapbooking).
You can use happy planners and notebooks however you want and if anyone has any questions or wants to know more, please do not hesitate to ask me!
9. An Actor Plans
Perfect for: That Person you just got a Happy Planner for
So the Happy Planner line has a bunch of different stickers/washi tapes/inserts, etc. that are absolutely AMAZING! But I recently found this brand of stickers that is specific to theatre! These stickers are personally on my XMAS list and I think you all should check them out too! Click the image to check out the shop!
Like how cute is Mabel the Cat?
10.Ninja
Perfect for: Technical Theatre Humans
You all. I have been a huge fan of their stuff ever since the New Products Showcase at USITT this past year. They have the best shirts in the industry- not only the sayings but the quality as well. There shop is constantly expanding and not only am I asking for stuff from their shop, but I plan on shopping there from some friends as well!
Click the image below to check out there stuff!
I literally wear this shirt all the time!
And there you have it friends- that's the list 2.0! Now you can get something a little more personal, instead of just another gift card!
I hope everyone has a wonderful start to their holiday season and I'm off to open a show!
Much love always,
💜Chels